Synopsis: Four college coeds go to Fort Lauderdale for their Spring Break vacation.

Where the Boys Are ’84 was directed by Hy Averback (Chamber of Horrors, I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!), a filmmaker who primary worked on Television over the course of his four decade career. Where the Boy’s Are ’84 is a remake of the 1960 film Where the Boy’s Are. Both of these film’s where adapted from Glendon Swarthout’s novel of the same name. The cinematographer on Where the Boy’s Are ’84 was James A. Contner, who’s other notable film’s as a cinematographer include Cruising, Nighthawks and The Last Dragon. The score for Where the Boys Are ’84 was co-written by Alan Merrill, who is most known for singing and writing the song ‘I Love Rock N Roll’ with his band Arrows.

Trying to compare the 1984 version with the 1960 version of Where the Boy’s Are would be futile, since both film’s are clearly products of their time. It would make more sense to compare Where the Boy’s Are ’84 with other 1980’s teen sex comedies like The Last American Virgin, Porky’s, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Hard Bodies. Unfortunately, while Where the Boy’s Are ’84 tries really hard to fit in with these other aforementioned films. The end result is a ho how affair that lacks cohesion and often comes up short when it comes to its sophomoric attempt at vulgar humor.

So how did everything go so wrong, when the premise should have translated so well even within the confines of the 1980’s. First off the characters lack any real depth, so that when the moment finally arrives when we are expected to care for them, it is near impossible to do so. Also the more interesting characters in this film just happen to be the more secondary characters. All of which are woefully underdeveloped. Yet another area in which this film is often off putting is how it sets itself up as a more adult oriented comedy and then it often back peddles when it comes to being more exploitative. Outside of vulgarity, which there is plenty of, there is only a hint of flesh that appears in this film. With most of these girls shenanigans never coming close to adult only content.

Without a doubt the most impressive part of this film is its cast, who feature many recognizable faces. Cast in the role of the four friends are Lisa Hartman (‘Knots Landing’), Lorna Luft (Grease 2), Wendy Schaal (‘American Dad’) and Lynn-Holly Johnson (The Watcher in the Woods). To this films credit each of these four characters are distinctively different from each other. It should be pointed out that all of the actresses in this film were a few years beyond the age of the characters which they are portraying. And while this should not be a deal breaker, some viewers make find it hard to believe them in their respective roles.

In a production where so many things seemed to go wrong. There are at least a handful of entertaining moments like the scene where Wendy Schaal character does an impromptu striptease at a bar. Another scene that lingers on features the four college coeds smoking dope and making out with a blowup doll.

The DVD:

Scorpion releasing presents Where the Boys Are ’84 in a 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. The image is in great shape as colors look nicely saturated, black levels look good and details look crisp throughout. There are no problems with compression or edge enhancement.

This release comes with one audio option, a Dolby Digital mono mix in English. The audio sounds clear and balanced throughout. Though range wise it is rather limited.

Extras for this release include a trailer for the film (2 minutes 16 seconds – 1.33:1 full frame) and two interviews, the first interview with actress Wendy Schaal (32 minutes 36 seconds – anamorphic widescreen) and the second interview with actor Russell Todd (22 minutes 9 seconds – 4:3 full frame). Topics covered in these two interviews include, how they got involved with this film, the cast, working with director Hy Averback and various onset shenanigans like smoking pot while filming a scene. Both interviews also cover various other films that they have appeared in. Also included with this release are trailers for Cheerleaders Wild Weekend, Skateboard and Follow Me. Overall Where the Boys Are ’84 gets a strong DVD release from Scorpion Releasing.